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Wednesday, September 28, 2011

I've started to put out some more fall decor. I have a small thing for candles. They can make a space feel more intimate and romantic.

I've seen these pretty little things floating around blogland so I decided to make my own. They are glass hurricanes from Williams Sonoma for $68 plus the glass sleeve for $16. Don't think that is gonna happen on my budget.

I gathered my supplies:

glass vase from Dollar Tree

glass candle holder from Dollar Tree

glass enclosed candle from Dollar Tree

faux leaves from Dollar Tree

spray paint

I glued the vase and candle holder together using Gorilla Glue. I let it dry a couple hours.

I spray painted some leaves with ORB (because that's what was in the stash). I want to keep the colors dark and neutral to go with my current decor. I inserted the glass enclosed candle into my hurricane.

I simply dropped a few of my painted leaves in and voila.

For now they are sitting on my entry table along with some filler balls from Target. I put the filler on a decorative plate I already had.

Monday, September 26, 2011

I told you that we want to stain the kitchen cabinets dark. I mentioned to my husband that Home Depot carries a cabinet painting kit called Cabinet Transformations. The kit includes everything you need to change the color of your cabinets WITHOUT SANDING!So we made our weekly trip to the local Depot and got our kit.

Since the kitchen will be such a large project, we decided to try it out on our master bathroom cabinets. They are the same light maple as the kitchen cabinets.

Our bathroom was the perfect place test this kit. If we didn't like it, no one would see it and we could change it whenever. If we started with the kitchen and didn't like it, we would have to change it immediately because everyone would see it.

The kit includes deglosser for removing the sheen from the cabinets, bond coat in your choice of color, glaze (optional), and protective top coat. There are several colors to choose from. We wanted dark so we chose Chocolate.

So here's how they turned out...

We think they look great. Like totally different cabinets. They'll look even better once we paint the walls. We chose the chocolate color but I think the pictures make it look a little darker than in person. We also used the glaze which added a wood grain look and some richness instead of just looking like they were painted. The nickel knobs seem to pop off the dark wood now.

Now we need some motivation to get started on the kitchen. There's only like 100 cabinets to pull off in addition to the island. Ok, not exactly that many, but close.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

I was hearing about this thing called Pinterest. What? How can I try it? I soon learned upon going onto the site that you had to have an invite. I sent several requests over a span of a few weeks and still nothing. So I asked one of my fellow bloggers for an invite and she happily sent me one. Thanks. I can't get enough. You ladies weren't kidding when you said it was addictive. Everything I like, I've been pinning. Before Pinterest I was saving pictures to my computer and if I wanted to find the picture again, I had to search through the website I found the picture on. With Pinterest, I can pin a picture and the link is stored with it. How neat is that?

So here are some of my fall favorites while browsing.

Who doesn't like a free printable? These would be so great in a gallery wall or on a fall mantle.

Fall fashion? Yes please.

Not so normal pumpkins. I like that they are not your traditional orange.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

The outside of our home is a combination of brick and siding. We don't have any shutters so the door and the trim are the pieces that are easily accessible to color changes. The siding is a beige, the trim is green, and the door is blue. When we first moved in, I loved the brick but the rest of the house kind of faded into the background. I knew the exterior could look better with a change of the door color.

The brick has a multitude of colors in it, so I just had to have the right color to make a impact to the exterior. Since the current blue door was pretty boring I wanted the door to really pop. Enter the color red. I've always wanted a red door.

We made a trip to Home Depot. I didn't realize there were so many shades of red. I wanted a dark red so that narrowed down a few of my choices. They had a photo of a green house with a red door posted above the paint swatches. I loved it on the photo. With some help from an associate, we found the red used on the photo. Up close it was sooo not the red I was looking for. It was way too pink. We had about five shades narrowed down. Some too pink, some too bright. We ended up choosing Cinnamon Cherry by Behr.

I did a quick wipe down of the door to remove the dirt. I taped off the sides and handles. No way was I removing those. I was a little iffy when I first started painting because it was going on really pink. I applied two coats of paint. Once dry, I stepped back and.......

Oh yes, this is what I've wanted forever!

See how the red brings out the red tones in the brick. The blue before was not helping the brick out at all.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

I see all the time bloggers giving each other awards for creativity or cuteness. How nice I thought. It'll probably take me some time before someone notices me. So I received an email the other day nominating little ole' me. Wow. Someone really likes me. She has passed on the Versatile Blogger Award to me.

Rules for the Versatile Blogger:1. Thank the person who gave it to you.2. Share 7 things about yourself.3. Nominate 15 blogs you have been enjoying lately.

Thank you Priscilla from Thrifty Crafty Girl for giving this to me. It's an honor. Priscilla has some really cute projects over there. You should stop by.

7 Things About Me:1. I am a wife to a loving man and mother to a vibrant little girl.2. I like to stay up late at night but hate to get up early in the morning.3. I used to not like home decor but now I think about it all the time.4. We bought a bigger house but I don't enjoy cleaning it.5. I like DIY projects but I also wouldn't mind paying someone else to do it.6. I love reading blogs now and often times get sucked into it for hours.7. I love fall and winter fashion but I hate the cold weather.

Since the weather is starting to change, I decided to slowly start adding fall decor. I've started with my front door. I found a grape vine wreath at the thrift store and ripped all the old decor off. It was horrible. I should have taken a before pic. I added some faux leaves, gourds, pumpkins, and berries from the dollar store.

Love it. I think it looks a lot like the Pottery Barn Harvest Fruits Wreath. No way am I paying $89.50 for a wreath.I also just saw some similar at Michael's that were marked down to $24.99. I made mine for a few bucks. Go me.